Killer
by Jinxgirl
Summary: Being a murderer and being a killer...is there a difference? When Faith meets a girl proudly claiming to be a murderer, this question becomes central. Crossover with the book The Absence of Nectar by Kathy Hepinstall.
1. Chapter 1

Killer

Disclaimer: Faith belongs to Joss Whedon; Persely Snow belongs to Kathy Hepinstall.

Author notes: This takes place several months post "Chosen;" it is a crossover with the book The Absence of Nectar by Kathy Hepinstall.

Chapter 1

One thing about having all those eager new Slayer kids from all around the world…it gave Faith a lot less grunt work to deal with. The problem with that was that she didn't have any less to do- it was just that the dynamics of what she had to do had changed. As the Head Slayers of the new Slayer Headquarters in Cleveland, she and Buffy were the main ones in charge of training all the freshly called Slayers that Giles and Willow could round up and deliver at their feet, some six months after the collapse of Sunnydale and Buffy's idea of sharing their Slayer powers.

Faith never would have thought she could stay put anywhere for six months, much less somewhere she had a steady job with a more than decent paycheck- a job that involved responsibility and considering other people's well-being, no less. She definitely wouldn't have though it possible for any of that to happen while she was also living under one roof, albeit a very large one, with Buffy and her gang.

But somehow it was happening, and she had to admit that most of the time it wasn't bad at all. She and B had their moments, and sometimes she wanted to throw her hands in the air muttering swears under her breath and stalk out of the building to kill something, bed something, head to the nearest bar, or all three. And sometimes that was exactly what she did. But usually Faith kind of liked the way things were for her now. It wasn't something she was used to, to have things expected of her, to have a job that involved not just keeping a handle on herself, but helping others do the same, helping others, period…to be respected. Not only by her Slayers, but sometimes, she was beginning to suspect, even by the others. Even by Buffy.

Yeah, Faith didn't mind that at all.

Still. With all these Slayers going out on regular patrols in groups, the newer ones with Buffy, Faith, or Kennedy, or some of the other more experienced older girls supervising, it seemed like if Faith actually wanted to do any killing herself that was all in easy fun, rather than involving some super monster where B and the others would have to back her up anyway, she practically had to order the younger girls to take a night off, then sneak out on her own. What with B and her insistence that there was never a reason anymore for any Slayer to patrol without back-up, how the hell was Faith supposed to have any time to herself, to have a little action without someone's eyes glued to her back?

Not, of course, that any lecture from B was ever going to make her stop doing what she felt like doing. It was just that she'd rather avoid it if possible. No point in making the blonde sweat it for no good reason.

Even if she was cute when she was pissed.

As Faith made her way down the sidewalk of the main street store fronts, her stake mostly concealed up the sleeve of her jacket, she smirked to herself, remembering how she had almost got caught by Andrew as she had slipped out the back door in the headquarters' kitchen, just past one am. She had been shutting the door just as he came into the kitchen- she knew it was him because he'd been humming the Firefly theme song. Not that Andrew would tell on her- his fear bordering on awe of her came in handy like that, except, of course, where his Hot Pockets were concerned. Even Andy has his limits, she guessed.

It had been totally quiet so far. Faith had yet to see a single vampire, even in the nearby cemeteries. Almost forty minutes now, and the only two people she had seen at all had been human and homeless, and one of them had been sleeping at that. What, had all the Slayer juniors already killed everything in town earlier tonight? Couldn't they slack off just a little bit to save room for her to get her own hits in?

Faith was just starting to scowl, frustrated at the stillness about her, when she heard the sound of several feet in the distance, clearly running, their soles slapping the ground rapidly. As she looked up sharply, it seemed to her that it was coming from a block over or so.

She quickly turned, beginning to follow the direction of the sound, and as she drew closer she could hear crashing metal and scraping noises, as if trash cans were being shoved and thrown aside. There were no voices, no one screaming or shouting, and Faith's hopes rose. Vampires? Demons? What were they doing?

With her luck it was probably a freaking alley cat. But hey, it was the most excitement she'd had all night, and Faith wasn't going to let it, whatever it was, get by her.

The sounds were coming from an alley a few store fronts over, and Faith picked up the pace, actually eager, adrenaline beginning to spike through her veins. But when she entered the alley, its occupants weren't quite what she had expected.

There were three guys somewhere between the ages of 18 and 22, each with patchy facial hair and holey jeans. They were holding down a fourth person, a girl around 15 or 16, with wild blonde hair and a face twisted into an expression that was alight with hatred and aggression, even as fear sparked in unblinking pale blue eyes. Her mouth was open wide, showing two front teeth that were slight turned inward, and she snapped and gnashed her teeth at the young men, trying to bite them, writhing in their grasp. They pinned her arms and shoulders down, fiddling with the clasp of her grimy jeans.

Despite the intensity of the scene, what struck Faith most was that not one of them was making a sound verbally. The men weren't yelling at the girl to be still or calling her names, and the girl wasn't screaming out in fear or pain. It was a silent struggle, other than the men's wordless grunts and the girl's panting breaths…a scene so familiar to Faith that for a couple of seconds she froze, her eyes hooded.

She would never let them see her cry, never let them hear her scream….

Breaking herself sharply back into the present, she charged, moving with such speed that the men had no time to react. Seizing two in one hand by their shirts, Faith lifted them by the material, buttons popping with her forceful grasp, and flung them backwards into the alley wall. Their shrill, shocked screams choked as they hit the wall, falling to the ground hard, emerging with bloodied noses and foreheads. The remaining man was the one who had been undoing the girl's pants, and Faith seized his wrist, breaking it in one good twist. As the man's eyes bulged and he screeched in agony, Faith twisted it further, enjoying the satisfying sound of his bones grinding into each other. She threw him by his broken wrist into the pile that was his friends' bodies.

Revved up now, running on pure rage and adrenaline to the degree that everything before her seemed a sea of red motion, Faith started towards the three men, eyes narrowed, teeth gritted, intending to cause further destruction. But they were scrambling to their feet, eyes darting, faces pale with terror, and they took off running out of the alley without so much as a backward glance.

It took considerable effort for Faith not to follow them, to stand there and let them get away. She took several breaths, her fists knotted at her sides, before she could feel her heartbeat slowing down a notch and her breathing becoming a closer approximation to normal. Then she turned back to face the girl, who was slowly getting to her feet, staring at her with a guarded expression but eyes wide with undisguised awe.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The girl's lip was bleeding, bruises already darkening on her upper arms, but she didn't look badly injured; in fact, though she was trembling slightly, she didn't look nearly as shaken as Faith would have expected of most girls her age. Looking at her, Faith suspected with her usually uncanny sense for such things that this was because she was quite used to things like that, to life on the streets in general. Faith hadn't been homeless for a while now, nor living on the streets, but it was something that stuck with you for years, being able to recognize your own.

"You alright?" she asked the girl, keeping a distance away from her. She didn't want to scare her, after the rather impressive display of strength and violence for a young woman of her size the girl had just seen her perform.

Not to mention that most street kids had knives or weapons of some kind at all times. Just because the kid hadn't had the chance to whip one out on those assholes didn't mean she couldn't on Faith, if Faith let down her guard for a half second. Granted, Faith could kill her with her bare hands, but all it took was one well- placed slash of a very sharp knife to take her down, Slayer strength or not, and Faith had no intention of letting that happen with his kid.

The girl didn't answer her directly. Instead, she continued to stare at her before breaking out into a grin, taking a half step forward.

"Shit, you really know how to take some bastards down!"

"Yeah, you could say that," Faith replied, her lips quirking with some surprise, mostly amusement at the fervor in the younger girl's tone. "Look…you alright? They didn't hurt you too bad…they didn't…"

She glanced over the girl's body quickly, her gaze lingering for a few seconds on the start of her unbuttoned jeans, the implication clear. Catching her meaning, the girl quickly looked down at herself and rebuttoned them, her chin jerking up in defensive defiance, shoulders stiffening.

"No, they didn't get shit off me, the stupid cocksuckers, bet their peckers are too small to stick anywhere other than a toe ring. Ain't no one ever gonna get that from me. I had it covered. I would've taken them down any second if you would've held your damn horses a minute."

"Right," Faith said skeptically, almost snorting in spite of herself as the amusement playing at her lips became an outright smirk. She raised her eyebrows as she continued. "Looked like you had it all under control, alright, the way they had you pinned down on your back with their hands at your crotch."

The girl drew herself up tall and belligerent, her pale eyes stormy, eyebrows knitting together quickly as she took another step towards Faith, her body taking on as aggressive a stance as she could manage given her shorter, considerably less toned and muscled teenage form.

"You don't know nothing about me or my plans, Wannabe Supergirl. I had it covered, I had the assholes covered!" the girl almost shouted, her hands forming fists at her sides, her words almost spitting out, as if she were attempting to use them as weapons on assault Faith's ears. "Who the hell are you anyway, Miss Hero Complex?"

"Faith," Faith said evenly, crossing her arms and staring right back at the girl. She was no stranger to any scare tactics or attempts at domination she might try to pull. She'd used them all herself, not so long ago; the kid was preaching to the choir, if such a metaphor could be used in reference to Faith without her being burnt to a crisp on the spot or something. "And for someone who just got her ass saved, you sure have a hell of a way of showing your thanks. Who the hell are YOU?"

At that last question, the girl's angry expression faltered, disbelief flooding her eyes instead. Her staring becoming incredulous once more now rather than enraged, she almost sputtered in her response to her, actually giving a double take.

"You mean you don't KNOW who I am? You don't recognize me?" she exclaimed, her hands loosening at her sides as she took another step towards where Faith still stood with her arms crossed, several feet away. "You're shitting me! Where the hell have you been, a hole in the ground?"

"No, left that back in Sunnydale," Faith remarked, rolling her eyes. "What, you some wannabe actress or something? Been on a Barbie commercial when you were six or something? Because I always flip the channel on commercials-"

"I'm Persely Snow!" the girl almost shouted.

At Faith's blank look, the girl's eyes bulged, and she made a rapid gesture of her continued disbelief. "Shit, you've gotta be shitting me here! You never heard of me?"

"Nope," Faith said easily, eyebrows still lifted, and the girl- Persely- almost choked.

"I'm PERSELY SNOW!" she repeated, as if Faith simply hadn't heard her correctly the first time. "Those assholes, they were Snow Hunters! THEY heard of me!"

"Looks like it would be better for you if they hadn't," Faith remarked, then snorted. "Snow Hunters, huh? Looks like they were missing a gun to me, unless you count the way they were trying to shoot blanks there."

Persely's eyes flashed, narrowing almost to slits, and she bared her teeth, snapping at her like a dog. What the hell, Faith thought, somewhat startled, but mostly irritated. Was the kid some kind of werewolf?

"Shut up!" she snarled. "They weren't gonna do shit to me! I never would have let them, you're full of shit, I never would've let them!"

But even speaking as aggressively as she was, there was fear in her eyes, a desperation that Faith recognized with both unease and pity. She exhaled, backing down, and shifted her weight, crossing her arms to make a gesture of surrender. It was probably best if she just left the kid alone. She obviously didn't want her help, and she was acting like a pain in the ass.

But something in Faith wouldn't let her walk away just then. Instead, she spoke to her a little more calmly and seriously than before, taking a slow breath.

"Hey, sorry. Look, Persely…those guys are just bastards, like you said. Guys are monsters, they're always gonna do shit like that. Doesn't mean-"

"THEY know who I am," Persely cut her off, her words defiant, almost a challenge. Obviously she was much more comfortable on that line of discussion than the one Faith had been starting down."They're a bunch of cocksucking assholes with small peckers, and THEY still know."

"Bet they're gonna remember me pretty strongly after tonight too," Faith smirked. When Persely glared at her, she asked with obvious skepticism, "And why exactly is it that I'm supposed to know who you are and be starstruck by your presence?"

"I'm PERSELY SNOW!" Persely repeated yet again, and when Faith opened her mouth, she cut her off, her voice rising. "I'm FAMOUS! I'm on the news across the whole country! I'm in the paper and on TV, everyone knows who I am, EVERYONE! What, are you blind, can't you even read, can't you even watch TV?"

"Not blind, just not interested," Faith shrugged. "If I watch TV, which by the way,, isn't much fun compared to beating the hell out of something, it's gonna be action stuff, not the news, and whatever I need to know, someone else who read the paper can tell me. Anyway, it's not like people pay much attention to articles about kids who won the science fair or whatever-"

"Won the science fair?" Persely almost screamed, and she looked so comically furious by this point, her face crimson and strained with feeling, her eyes so wide, that Faith had to keep herself from laughing. "I didn't win the damn science fair! I poisoned my parents, you moron! I killed my mama! I'm a damn murderer!"

Somewhat surprised, Faith's eyebrows lifted, her eyes narrowing, and she looked Persely over carefully, studying her from head to foot as the blonde continued to glare at her defiantly, her jaw thrust forward. Coming to a decision, she shook her head decisively.

"Nah. You're not."

Persely, judging by the dumbfounded expression coming over her face, was clearly not used to this sort of reaction. She blinked, taking a half step back, and though her voice held aggressive swagger, it was also confused.

"What? Yes I am!"

"No you're not, "Faith replied with mostly uninterested assurance in her tone, shrugging, her eyes briefly skimming over the alley walls, as if she were contemplating their design and finding them to be fascinating in comparison to Persely. "Kid, I know murderers, and all I gotta do is take a look at you to know you're not one."

"I am too!" Persely shouted, taking a step forward now, her chest jutted forward, and Faith almost snickered, because she looked insulted as much as outraged, like she was offended she didn't look homicidal enough or something. "Ask anyone! Pick up a paper, turn on the news! They'll all tell you!"

"They got it wrong then," Faith shrugged, and Persely's face reddened further, her eyes practically popping out of their sockets with her frustration and anger.

"How the hell would you know? You don't know me- you ain't never even heard of me before! You're dumb, deaf, and stupid when it comes to me, you ain't never-"

"Because I am one," Faith cut her off, her voice even, not quite casual. "I am a murderer. And we know our kind. You're not one of us."


	3. Chapter 3

Killer

Chapter 3

Persely went very still, the anger lighting her features quickly evaporating as she looked at Faith with sharp wariness in her gaze, her body stiff. She shook her head quickly, voicing denial.

"No you ain't. You ain't no murderer. You're just saying that to try to look smart, or scary or something."

"Yeah, I am," Faith shrugged again, rolling her eyes, then half smirking at the younger girl. "What, you think I care about impressing YOU? Some ego you got on you, kid."

Persely's eyes darted, her lip catching briefly between her teeth, and she seemed to unconsciously shrink back from the older girl, even though she took no steps to do so.

"You ain't telling the truth…you just saved me. If you were some big bad murderer, you wouldn't have saved me."

"Yeah, well, got the redemption thing going for me now…mostly," Faith shrugged again, rolling her eyes upward briefly. "Just because I do the saving now doesn't mean I wasn't ever the one doing the hurting then."

Not even trying to bluster defiance anymore, Persely blinked, slowly shaking her head, then crossed her arms suddenly, almost hugging herself.

"You ain't kidding," she whispered, and Faith saw her shiver, her fear stark in the surface of her eyes.

"Nope," she replied, but she made her tone more serious, almost gentle, as she took a step towards her, one hand half extended. "Retired now though, unless someone's really got it coming, so don't worry about it. Like I said, got the redemption thing going now. But hey…look, if you're alright here…you got somewhere to go? I mean, we don't normally house escaped murderers," she added, the sarcastic teasing obvious in her tone, especially when paired with the smirk she flashed the other girl's way. "But once in a while we could probably make an exception-"

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Persely interrupted, and her voice was strident again, her fists reforming at her sides, eyes narrowing. "You don't know SHIT!"

Faith exhaled, her teeth gritting; this girl was just starting to get on her nerves by this point.

"Look, Persely, you're-"

"You don't know shit!" Persely cut her off again, her voice louder, more aggressive, her arms uncrossing to gesture violently as well. "You think you're so damn smart, you don't know NOTHING! Get away from me!"

For Faith, that was a done deal. The ungrateful little brat didn't even have a thank you, she wanted her to walk away and leave her to any other "Snow Hunters" that came along, if that was what they were even really called…if the whole thing wasn't some delusion of grandeur on the kid's part in the first place. Well, fine. She wasn't going to stick her neck out anymore for a kid who would break it in a split second if she could.

"Whatever," she muttered. "Guess you better hope the Snow Hunters don't have any pissed off pals hanging around then, huh?"

She turned away, beginning to stride out of the alley with long, deliberate steps. She could feel Persely's eyes on her, even as the girl yelled after her again.

"You don't know SHIT about me, Faith, you don't!"

Faith ignored her, exiting the alley and beginning to make her way down the store front sidewalk. It was only a few moments before she heard Persely's voice again.

"Hey…hey!"

Faith continued to pretend she couldn't hear her, her eyes focused straight ahead as she walked, but she did slow down her pace just a little. She was calling the kid's bluff, but she wasn't going to be a total ass about it, even if Persely deserved it.

She could hear footsteps behind her now, fast, almost running, and Persely's voice, rushed, definitely fearful, and almost desperate.

"Wait…Faith, wait a minute already, I'm talking to you!"

Faith took her time in stopping, turning around slowly, and fixing an irritated glance at Persely that was only partly genuine. She'd actually kind of hoped the girl would take the bait. Persely hurried to catch up to her, breathing a little harder than normal, and when Faith started to walk again, Persely stayed close, almost touching, casting a nervous glance behind them.

"Yeah?" Faith asked, eyebrows raised, only briefly looking over at her, and Persely bit her lip unconsciously, her voice coming out small.

"Why did you say that…about me not being a murderer. How come you said that."

Still walking, though at a much slower pace than now, Faith glanced over at her again, making longer eye contact this time.

"Because. I can tell you're not."

"But I am," Persely insisted, her voice still almost a whisper, her features softer, younger, and more natural and real than Faith had seen in her so far, even as she tried to catch and hold Faith's gaze with intensity. "I am. You're wrong. I am, so how come you're saying that?"

"You're not a murderer," Faith said quietly, shaking her head, her pace slowing further. "If you ever killed at all, it was an accident, and that's not the same thing. Still gotta deal with the consequences, big ones…but it's not the same. Trust me, kid, I know both those routes, and they might lead to the same result, but the same thing's not going on inside…you aren't a murderer."

"But I am!" Persely insisted, her voice rising. She tugged Faith's arm strongly, pulling them both to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk. "I am, though, I am a murderer, you're wrong. You're WRONG."

As intense as her voice was, there was no anger or defiance in her voice, only urgency…a need to be validated, to be right. Faith stared at her, somewhat baffled, then shook her head.

"What, is that what you want? You WANT me to say you're some vicious, cold-blooded murderer?"

"Yes," Persely said fiercely, her hand still tightly gripping Faith's arm, and Faith laughed, disbelieving, shaking her head.

"You know what, you're totally whacked, or else you've got a bigger guilt complex than Angel. And either way you're full of shit."

"I am!" Persely shouted, her hand tightening on Faith's arm. When Faith roughly yanked herself from her grasp, sending her stumbling back a few steps, Persely, undaunted, stepped close to her again, her face tilted in an aggressive angle. She was nearly screaming…but there was desperation in her eyes, a despair in her face even as she yelled, that made her appear less so angry than almost exploding with intensity of emotion.

"I AM a murderer, I AM A MURDERER! I did murder her- I did kill her! Don't ever tell me what I did, you don't know, you don't know what I am! I did it, I put the poison in his Tang, I wanted to kill him, I wanted him to die! How was I supposed to know he'd think it tasted funny, how was I supposed to know he'd give it to my mama to try? I did it, I put it in there, and she died, and HE DIDN'T, he's still out there, walking around like everyone else! I can't even do that right, can't even murder the right person! But I did it- I killed her! Don't you ever tell me I'm not no murderer, because I did murder her, I did it!" Persely shrieked, and she was shaking, her face so flushed and vivid with feeling that Faith stared, momentarily unable to form a response.

The younger girl stood, trembling heavily, her voice coming in ragged gasps, and she backed against the alley wall, letting her back slump against it, her head lowering so Faith could barely see her face. When she spoke again, her voice was low, almost a whisper, and it shook nearly as much as her form.

"I am a murderer. Don't you never tell me that I'm not."

Faith took this in, her eyebrows knitting slightly, and remained silent for several moments, looking in the direction of Persely's lowered face. Persely could not have looked much different from her in appearance if she tried. She was small and blonde, pale and dirty, with scruffy clothes and hair, though not unattractive, very much unlike herself. But she knew that tone, that expression…the person behind it all. That guilt, that anger, that pain…that fear. Looking at Persely was looking at a skewed echo of herself, only a few years before, and it stunned her to think that she had not seen it before, not the whole of it.

She stepped forward slowly, stopping only a foot or two in front of Persely, and continued to regard her intently before speaking. "Why?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Persely's head lifted. There were tears standing in her eyes, though not yet falling, and she sniffed, frowning in confusion.

"Why am I a murderer? Because I murdered her…I murdered my mama," she said, a little more calmly now. "Weren't you even listening to me?"

"No," Faith shook her head, her head tilting down unconsciously, matching the angle of Persely's. "Why did you try to kill your dad? You weren't trying to kill her…why did you try to kill him?"

Persely's eyes dimmed, lowering briefly, and when she looked up again, she was touching her throat unconsciously, her eyes not meeting Faith's, but looking past her, her voice soft and almost childlike.

"Every guy's a monster. Some just ain't as good at hiding behind being a man."

The fingers at her throat, the hunching of her shoulders, the soft voice and unfocused eyes….and men, all of them monsters…beasts. This too, Faith knew, recognized, and she breathed in slowly, gathering words, gathering knowledge no one had ever told her, knowledge she had learned slowly, over time, with as much difficulty as she could throw into her own path. Knowledge that even now, she was still trying to learn, still trying to accept to be true.

She turned her face to Persely's, catching and holding her gaze, and attempted for the first time to voice this aloud.

"You're not a murderer, Persely. You're a killer."

Persely's forehead creased, and she frowned, her head straightening as she maintained eye contact.

"What? That's the same thing."

"No, it's not," Faith countered, shaking her head, her tone still quiet, serious. "I'm both. Might be the same results- someone dies, and you gotta deal with what happens because of it- but it doesn't mean the same thing, for you. You feel the same, yeah, because either way, someone's dead and it's your fault. But being a killer, and being a murderer…there's a difference in what it makes you inside."

Persely stared at her, clearly not following, and Faith exhaled, her eyes sliding away briefly before focusing back on Persely's.

"You murder someone, you did it knowing the whole time exactly what you were doing and what it was gonna mean. You murder someone, and you're thinking about it and then actually doing it, just because you want someone else to die. You murder someone, and you just crossed a huge line you didn't know was there, not just in rules, but in YOU," Faith said emphatically, gesturing towards her own chest. "But you kill someone, that's not the same. You kill someone, it's an accident, or it's self-defense, or whatever- not something you wanted. Not something you meant. Still changes you…still crossing a line. Still gotta deal and pay for it. But it's different. It makes it different for YOU…because it's not what you wanted."

Faith paused, inhaling slowly again, then looked Persely straight in the eyes, her voice dropping slightly.

"Like I said, I'm both. I know what they both mean, and what it means for me. You're not a murderer, Persely. You're a killer. Doesn't sound like it makes a difference…but really, one day you're gonna see it makes all the difference in the world."

She could see Persely's eyes shimmering, the tears more prominent, more difficult for her to contain. The younger girl turned her head, blinking, her lips thinning, and the hand on her throat moved to press against her mouth. Faith let her eyes drift away, giving her space from her gaze.

"I was almost a murder," Persely whispered, her voice strained, and Faith smiled slightly.

"Yeah, well, almost just counts in horseshoes. Or so I hear, anyway, never played that boring-ass game myself before."

Persely didn't smile. Faith could hear her breaths, shuddering, uneven, and when she turned her face towards her, there was nothing in her face but need…need, and a trust that shook Faith to her core. For anyone to look at her like that…for anyone to think she could know all the answers, be the one to change their life…it was insane. But wasn't that what she was doing now, every day that she woke up and went to train all the new Slayers, to shape them into the warriors they needed to be? Didn't they trust her to be able to do it…didn't everyone?

Thinking of this now, something she had never fully realized, Faith was so startled, even amazed, that she barely caught Persely's question in time to tune in.

"What am I supposed to do then…how am I supposed to be?"

Looking at the younger girl before her, a girl who was still watching her with hope in her eyes, even mingled with her pain, Faith answered slowly, almost for herself as much as for Persely.

"You can't take back what you did. You can't change it…all you can change is you. And then, you use it…try to change others too, or at least get them to see where they need to."

"How'm I gonna do that?" Persely asked, shaking her head. The tears were mostly gone from her voice, but still balancing dangerously in her eyes. "I got every cop in the country after me, everyone except you knows my name, and every guy in town wants to take me down one way or another. How am I gonna change when no one gives me a half a second to try?"

For several moments Faith regarded her, her mind working. Persely Snow might not be a Slayer…but it looked like the Headquarters were about to get a new recruit anyway. The details she'd work out later, or let someone else…but now? Now was the first step, the only step. There was no question in her mind of what to do.

"Come with me," she told her, dark eyes meeting pale, half extending her hand in a beckoning gesture. "You come. And you'll see."

There was perhaps ten seconds where Persely made no move, simply holding Faith's gaze, indecision dancing across her eyes. Then, with one sudden motion and a sharp exhalation, she stepped forward. She didn't take Faith's hand, but when Faith began to walk, she stayed very close to her side.

End

Author note: I read The Absence of Nectar recently; it is an excellent book, and Persely Snow reminded me so much of third season Faith in her behaviors, past, and mannerisms that I couldn't resist having them meet somehow.


End file.
